Jacob Style

I realized in looking at our pictures from February that I neglected to document the fact that my oldest child turned 12 years old! 12 YEARS OLD! I am sure that I have told the story I am about to share many times before but for the sake of proper documentation, I shall tell it one more time.

On the very first day that I went solo on my new mother gig, I had a little mini breakdown about 30 seconds into it. My mom was gone, Chris was going back to work, and I was sitting in the front room of our Provo house with my newborn son sleeping peacefully in his bouncy seat on the floor. The sun was shining on his blond hair, it was quiet. I immediately picked up the phone and called Chris (who wasn't even out of the neighborhood yet).

Me: sob, sob.
Chris: What's wrong?
Me: sob, sob
Chris: Amy...is everything OK? Is Jacob OK?
Me: sob, sob
Chris: Do you need me to come home?
Me: No. I just don't know what to do with him.
Chris: What to do with who?
Me: What am I supposed to do with the baby? He isn't going anywhere for 5 years....sob, sob.

It suddenly seemed like such a LONG time to be at home with a child. *(Please put this in the context of my heightened post-pardum anxiety). How many walks can you go on? How many bottles can you feed? I was coming off working full-time, going to school part-time for my master's degree, consulting for the school district, and going full speed ahead all the time. The pace just seemed so different...the day to day so mundane. How was I going to make it until he went to kindergarten?

And now he is 12. We made it to kindergarten...and this week I registered him for 7th grade...at the middle school. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN SO FAST? You literally blink sometimes and they have changed, grown up, matured. I think the most important thing as a mother is that you gain perspective. Our time with our children is SO short...there are days that are eternal, phases of our motherhood with young children when you feel like things will never change but then one day you look around and everything has changed...and believe it or not, there are moments you mourn for those days that they were all at your side and the biggest concern was what you were going to fix them for lunch.

Jacob has been a joy since the moment I was pregnant with him. I KNEW he was a boy and we KNEW his name was going to be Jacob. I had some incredibly rough patches emotionally towards the end of my pregnancy with him and I remember a very poignant and beautiful blessing that my husband gave me where he assured me that Jacob was aware of everything I was going through and experiencing and that he was grateful for my willingness to do those things on his behalf. He also assured me that Jacob loved me and was helping and supporting me. I have felt those things from my son all his life.

Jacob is SUCH an amazing young man! He is funny...he has an incredible sense of humor. He is smart...so smart. He is curious and loves to learn. He is a voracious reader. Devours books. He bears his testimony every single month in sacrament meeting and I love hearing his feelings and thoughts about the gospel. He is passing the sacrament now and every week I puff up with a little mother pride when I see him in his suit participating in this sacred ordinance. He loves Star Trek and Lord of the Rings and wants to learn Klingon and Elfin. He is always game for an adventure and always willing to try anything. I love and adore this boy of mine!

Good heavens...where were we? Ah, 12 year old birthday party. So Jacob asked if he could have a birthday party. Chris and Jake designed the invites and Jake handed them out. I wasn't being as diligent as I normally am in monitoring the exact number of invitees and before I knew what was happening, we were having a movie party at our house with a million 6th grade boys. There were a lot of them...do you watch Phineas and Ferb? You really should...it is hilarious. This is one of my favorite scenes:

 Candace Party

I thought we were having an "intimate together"...and literally at one point in the evening I had 15 sweaty, stinky 6th grade boys dancing to this song in my basement with the bass pumping and everyone yelling "Jacob party! Jacob party!" in the appropriate places in the song. I will admit it was hilarious...
Anyway, our intimate get together started with the boys arriving and immediately finding the dress up box that I thought I had hidden and locked up downstairs.

Next came pizza and then treats and a movie. Most of the boys did pretty good during the movie but I did find myself downstairs doing some minor crowd control...and the further along we got in the movie, the more restless I could feel the energy getting. When the movie ended, we came upstairs for amazing cupcakes that looked like popcorn containers. (Remember my in-house cake decorator/designer? It is AWESOME!)

 As we were winding up with the spectacular cupcakes and present opening, Chris and I looked at the clock and realized we still had ONE HOUR left! ONE HOUR!!!! Do you know how long that is when you have 15 restless boys, no energy left, and nothing else planned? Someone turned on the iPod and the problem was instantly solved. These kids partied like it was 1999 for a solid hour in the basement. I sat downstairs, monitored the music, and periodically reminded them not to knock over the furniture or body slam each other.  But they DANCED...crazy dancing. At one point we even had a congo line going...I have to admit being thoroughly entertained. By the time parents arrived, we had some really sweaty, really tired, really hyped up boys. Leave it to be the unplanned event that becomes the most memorable...but then again, isn't that how it ALWAYS is?

It will take me a little while to recover from this 12-year old "intimate get together"...but man was it fun while it lasted!

Road Trip 2013

Sometimes when the smog and constant coughs and colds and homework and daily grind get to be too much, a girl just has to get away.

And when that urge hits, there is only one thing to do...call the Davies and McCoys. It is our favorite vacation in the whole world!

First, we dig out our dusty shorts and T-shirts. We love digging out our shorts in February. It makes you feel like you are pulling a fast one over on Mr. Winter! Then we pack the car full of WAY too much junk and food that we would never eat in "real" life, and we hit the road.

I am a firm...even passionate...believer that life is all about the journey, not just the destination. Whether you are speaking metaphorically or literally, sometimes we are so focused on the "end" that we miss the majesty all along the way. Road trips are only bearable if you stop and find the hidden gems.  And so this time I made Chris pull off the highway so we could go see Fillmore, Utah...the first capital city of Utah. We drove down Main Street and then stopped off to see the old courthouse. I love little towns and historical sites. They truly are my favorite!

Next stop was St. George, UT where we shed our sweatshirts and coats and took our first deep breath of unpolluted, warm air! Spencer desperately tried to sweet talk us into letting him drive the next leg...this boy loves sitting at the wheel of the car!

 Only tourists from cold climates stop and take pictures in front of the dead-ish palm trees in a Costco parking lot.

I am afraid the next part of the story is a tiny bit tragic.

My parents were actually coming HOME from Las Vegas the same day we were driving TO Vegas. I thought it would be so fun to stop and take a picture when we crossed paths on I-15. So we got on the phones and found the spot...a charming little exit called Hidden Valley Road in Nevada. The only things at this exit were some sagebrush, abandoned tires, and a huge cattle grate. We all pulled over and had to document the moment with a picture.

See how cute and fun we all are? And if one picture is so good, wouldn't 2 pictures be even better? We were all getting in place when my poor Mo happened to step backwards and her leg fell in the cattle grate! Ladies and gentlemen...beware of cattle grates! They are BRUTAL. 

I thought she had broken her leg...we pulled her out and she was hurting. Really bad. She couldn't put pressure on her leg and we were in the middle of NOWHERE! We got her back in the car and they rushed off to the next booming metropolis to get a bag of ice. When they arrived back in SLC that night, they took her to the emergency room where it was determined her leg wasn't broken but was terribly beat up and bruised. I have had a visual of the injury and I can safely say I have never seen a leg so mangled and chewed. She is still recovering from that big, mean grate...and I harbor terrible guilt because it was my idea to stop and take a picture in the middle of nowhere!

After putting Mo in the car and sending them off to look for ice (guilt!), we proceeded to Las Vegas and a delightful visit with the McCoys that involved darling babies, Cafe Rio for dinner, and children who were supposed to be in bed sleeping having a wild dance party! It was so fun...I love Abby and her gang!

We had tucked all the children snug in their beds and Boo had requested a special CD to listen to while falling asleep. Abby put the CD in and a minute later I heard HB say (from her bed), "This doesn't sound like  lullaby music...this sounds like dance music!" and just like that it went from sleepy time to Hammer time (80's reference).

I would like to refer to this next sequence of pictures as "Vacation Time is Waxy Donut Time"...an old Oscarson tradition.

After the waxy donuts the next morning, it was time to say good bye. I hate good bye.

Then it was off to the Davies and sunny, beautiful San Diego. Baby's favorite game is Peek-A-Boo...he'll play it anytime, anywhere, with anyone! It makes him giggle!

After battling California traffic and rain, we finally arrived at the Davies home. Only 3 members of the family knew we were coming...we wanted it to be a surprise for the rest. Spencer had had a little diaper incident and was in nothing but a diaper and shirt AND was also waking up from a long car nap...but we put him in a big basket on the front porch with a note, rang the doorbell, and hid.

The notes says, "Have lost my pants and been stuck in a car seat for 2 days! But excited to play with cousins! P.S. I brought the rest of my posse with me." It was so fun to see 2 cousins open the door and try to process how a brown baby came to be on their doorstep...and then there were lots of hugs and squealing and excitement. And the vacation festivities had begun...

Baby takes the BEST vacation naps!

Baby has the most delicious corkscrew curls on top of his head! We had plenty of volunteers who wanted to help do his hair!

Amazing, fun Aunt Courtney gave the girls permission to decorate the walls in Miss E's bedroom with chalk. It was a splendid sight to see...fairies and apple trees and swings and rainbows! Best activity EVER!

There were parks and green, green grass...soccer balls and games...beautiful sunsets!

We spent an amazing afternoon exploring the tidal pools and lighthouse at Point Loma...

Another afternoon was spent at the La Jolla Children's pool where we went to watch the pelicans and seals...in my next life I am praying to be a seal...you eat until you are stuffed and then you roll yourself onto a bed of kelp on the beach and nap in the sun. My kind of life. We also saw a whale spouting water off the shore. Magical day!

We spent the rest of the afternoon frolicking on the beach in La Jolla. The Taylors came down from LA and spent the day with us. Nothing beats sand, waves, family, sun, and warm temps when you have spent 3 months freezing to death. Perfection!

Baby has a bit of a bird and duck fetish...you mix those 2 together and you get a darling 1-year old at the beach squealing, "DUCK!" every time he sees a seagull. It was hilarious!

We had such a fabulous time! All too soon, it was time to go. I still hate good-byes. Blah.

We drove back home to a snowstorm and very cold temps. It was just fitting. But oh, how I love vacation.

Thank you to some of our very favorite people on the planet from Vegas to San Diego who hosted us, played with us, and provided some of the most outstanding entertainment imaginable. Thank you for cousins and aunts and uncles who make us feel like the most important, loved people on the planet. Thank you to Daniel Craig for being James Bond and for Magnum chocolate bars that taste like heaven. Thank you Chris for dropping everything and whisking me away when my sanity was on the line.

So...who wants to host us next?